A Noble Spirit
by Zarius
Summary: She's everywhere. She's been everywhere...why can't she remember it? (an alternative opening to "The End of Time" Part One)


**DOCTOR WHO:**

**A NOBLE SPIRIT**

**WRITTEN BY ZARIUS**

* * *

In the stillness of space, a light beamed across the heavens. It was a thriving, bright and beautiful sun, its solar radiance gracing the small planets in orbit around it with glistening and burning energy.

One such planet was the Earth. A world inhabited by all manner of fascinating creatures, but none more complex and engaging as the indigenous species known as the human race.

For some reason, perhaps out of random choice, perhaps of God's will, perhaps as a cruel and calculating joke, humanity had been deemed fit by evolution's whims to lay claim to the planet and intestate it with their ways and wars, their beliefs and their sins, their count and their cost.

Theirs was at times an intolerable spirit, corrupted minds, and blackened hearts, obsessed with conflict and, greed, and savagery.

Yet, to balance that, there were also kindly, noble minds, whose sympathy and compassion would counteract all the more hateful aspects that await us all throughout life.

This is what was deemed a _noble _spirit.

It is one such spirit that we follow now, through the commotion and the noise and the splendour of Christmas Eve, a pagan ritual to guide humanity through the dark and the cold towards the hope that came with tomorrow's salvation, the anniversary of faith made manifest.

We see one Donna Noble and her partner, Shawn Temple, walking down the street, arm-in-arm, taking in the sights and smells of an evening at the marketplace. A brass band playing merrily, festive music blaring from their trombones.

"And then Peggy Chapman walks by me with a face like a blister wondering just what is it about her going on holidays that cause her allergies to play up. I looked her square in the eye and said ''it's not your hols that do you in Peg, it's your calls" Donna said, howling with laughter.

Shawn Laughed.

"The stress must be astronomical" he said.

"Every time. She even gets a few regulars, like the same callers, always with the same problems. One time she even got a caller who claimed for three straight days the bees were disappearing and the lights were going out in the sky. I could have told him that's what happens when you stay out 'till 7 AM plastered on the curb sunshine"

"You're a fine judge of character" Shawn said cheekily.

"I'm just a good observer, I can always tell what a man's like at his worst"

Shawn held her still, his hands up against her shoulders, leaning in for a kiss.

"Tell me how you like your man at his _best_ then" he said.

Before his lips could press against hers, Donna's head jolted back, she steadily lost her balance, and almost fell over.

"Donna, what's wrong?" Shawn asked.

Donna put her finger on her nose, squeezed and took in a few deep breaths as violent and powerful imagery tunnelled through her brain.

Creatures of indescribable terror, alien almost to the very imagination, imprinted themselves upon her psyche.

"My head, it's burning" she said.

"It's happening again isn't it?" Shawn replied.

Donna stabilised herself, holding on to Shawn's arms.

A few passersby offered their services.

"Are you alright love?" said one such person, a kindly elderly called Minnie.

"I'm good, I'm good, just got a little excited, it's Christmas, we're all proper mental this time of year" said Donna.

"Still, you look like you could do with a rest. Me and Kurt here were just heading into the church for a spot of prayer, do you want to come in with us and have a seat?"

Donna wasn't about to become a charity case, she prepared to speak up and politely decline, but Shawn interfered.

"Thank you, come on Donna, let's give you rest" he said.

"Has she had this sort of trouble before?" Minnie asked.

"Ever since I met her, she was down at Sun Bingo, that's where we met, and she had an episode similar to this one, she just dropped into my arms. Just like that. I managed to catch her, it's a bit like a fairy tale" he said.

"Dropped out of the sky, oh how cosy" Minnie replied gleefully.

Donna was helped into the church.

Within was a children's choir, their collective voices echoing harmoniously throughout the structure.

Minnie and Kurt helped Shawn nest Donna warmly on one of the seats in the front row, then turned and headed towards a line of people.

"They're serving tea over there, why don't we each fetch you two a cup?" asked Minnie.

Donna nodded, finding it a struggle to speak. She had a lot taken out of her by her episode.

Shawn gathered her in his arms and cradled her, but Donna broke free of his grip as she tried to gather her bearings.

"I'm fine, seriously Shawn, I just need a bit of air" she said.

"Are you sure you don't want to get whatever this is checked out?" Shawn asked.

"I've tried a few times, the doctors can never find anything, and they just assume it's some phantom pain, a reaction to some trauma I'm trying to forget"

"So much has happened on this planet, I sometimes wish we could all forget it" Shawn replied.

Donna looked at him anxiously.

"That's the thing though, all these stories I hear on the news, killer Christmas trees, a giant boat coming down from the sky, the Earth moving across space, I was asleep for all of that? This is me we're talking about. When I was five, I had a sleepover and Suzie Kessel had brought her pet budgie over. That night, the poor thing got its neck caught in the bars of its cage; I was the only one within hearing distance of its distress calls. I was tucked up in bed then, but I got straight up and managed to pry it out of there. If something was happening, I was everywhere, and informing everyone. I never missed out"

Shawn eased his arm over her shoulder, this time Donna was feeling more comfortable and allowed it.

"I'm everywhere...I've _been_ everywhere, I know it"

"Nobody can be everywhere Donna, that's what makes staying where you are so special" Shawn assured her, but Donna was having none of that.

"No, when I say I've been everywhere I mean that. Whenever I have these migraines, there's a part of me that knows it's true, and I _miss_ it Shawn. I miss being _everywhere_"

Donna stared off into space, her attention caught by an image in one of the alter windows.

It was a tall dragon bearing down on a tiny village, its mouth foaming with fire, attempting to set tiny huts ablaze.

And she spotted something between the dragon and the villagers.

A tiny blue box.

With people peering out of it.

Gallant in posture, defiant to the last breath.

A noble spirit.


End file.
